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What Is Your "Beater" Bass?

#81
I own 5 basses,but this one is a great bass that if it did get damaged, it wouldn't be the end of the world.

These days, it mainly gets used by the young bass players at out church when they have issues with their own bass.

Even though it's considered the beater of the bunch, it's by no means an inferior bass.

While quite of other basses have been bought and sold, this bass will never be sold.

This bass is a '90 MIJ Fender '57RI P-Bass I picked up a few years ago in a pawnshop for $115.

50334557368_f79e03af71_b.jpg
 
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#82
My beater bass of the ten that I am fortunate to have is the only one that has a name...."The Mongrel"

It is a '65 pre-CBS ash body/blonde Fender Precision with a Warmoth jazz bass neck, Pickguardian tort pickguard, a Lollar pickup and upgraded electronics. The only original 1965 parts remaining are the body and the hardware. I've had it for over 20 years and even after buying and/or selling several other basses during that time, The Mongrel continues to be my favorite bass for practicing, jamming, recording and gigging.

65 P-bass Mongrel.jpg
 
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#85
bucephylus said:
The BoC (Bass of Clubs)
View attachment 4004661

1988 Warmoth ash body (Bought new), Highway One v2 neck, Sadowsky preamp, Delano JMVC pickups, Fender hardware. Been in too many clubs to count.
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funny.. when I saw the image, I thought, that looks like my Warmoth Jazz, but saw the Fender slide, then I saw the text...

I painted mine white w/ an old school ghetto spray can job... it was black like that though, but, the body shape is definitely Warmoth...

I also kept the pickguard off. I put in some Bart's & wired them in series w/ only a single 1M vol pot. Fender P, '83 bridge (on loan from my P) & Marshall Jubilee style knobs...

IMG_0223.jpg


I guess you could say that, that's my beater. I paid $200 for it, w/ an extra fretless neck. I played it fretless for a long time, but wore the nut down too low, so I just swapped necks until I decide to fix the nut.
 
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#86
SpazzTheBassist said:
....my definition of Beater Bass is somethomg you have laying around the house to use as a grab-n-go practice instrument and if it falls on the floor or dog knocks it over, no bigee

The instruments I gig with the most are not beater basses to me :D
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This is what I think as well, except that I will occasionally use my beaters for gigs. I’ve got two basses that fit that definition: a Peavey Fury and a mid-90s MIM Fender Standard Precision—I’ve had that second one for almost 25 years, and it’s my longest-owned bass. They’re both a little scruffy now but they’re very comfortable old pals.

Not much in the way of mods. I've put different pickups in them (Barts in the Fury and Duncan SPB-1s in the Precision) and the Precision got Hipshot Ultralight tuners, but other than that they’re basically stock. A few years ago I put tape wound strings on the Precision, just to have something different.
 
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#87
I don’t believe in having a “beater” bass.
I believe in having the right tool for the job, and the right tool for 98% of the jobs i’ve done in the last decade has been my 2011 Fender Roger Waters Pbass.
As such, it is beat to hell.
But i’ll take my Roscoe to a dive bar if i think it’s right for the job
 
#88
El_Charro said:
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Lol-My condolences on the dud from the starter pack...

Funny you mention that bc I bought one of those Squire starter packs when I was a broke AF college student and to this day I feel like that cheap @$$ Fender Strat I got from the starter pack is one of the primary reasons I couldn’t convince myself to practice guitar (other than the fact that I was completely terrible I mean)...

As I’ve moved onto bass after a two decade layoff since I last tried to play a stringed instrument I’m still on the fence about Fender.

I’m not sure where their quality control or quality perception ranks in my mind bc I know a lot of people love their instruments and I feel like they are capable of making something pretty high end, but I’m not sure I trust them (though maybe that isn’t fair to judge them by their budget line).

Thanks for sharing! \m/
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I think the answer with Fender is to buy a US made Bass if you are a serious Bass player.
The US ones are amazing.
 
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#89
Thundertips said:
I think the answer with Fender is to buy a US made Bass if you are a serious Bass player.
The US ones are amazing.
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I got an American Special P-bass years back.. and the only reason I don't play the crap out of it is because I have developed a thing for 5-strings. I brought the P-bass back from my drummer's house where it's been living for like a year and have been playing the crap out of it the last couple days. They don't make them anymore, and they ran for under a grand (mine was on sale for $699). Yeah.. pass on the "starter pack" squires and at least pickup and play a few MIM Fenders before giving up on them imo.
 
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#90
Easy one - 1986 Yamaha BB300, Candy Apple Red. $259 brand new with the ugliest brown gig bag imaginable.

I have made a LOT of money over the years with that bass. I had a J-style pickup installed, put a Badass Bridge on it, added Grover tuners, and had a brass nut fashioned for it. Its P-pickup sounds passably like a P-bass, the J pickup sounds passably like a J-bass, and with both pickups on it has a full, bright sound all its own.

It was refretted once due to wear from Rotosounds, and again once after the neck "ski jumped" to allow for correcting that.

More recently it was sent off to have the recurrent "ski jump" corrected (yet again) via heat treat, hopefully permanently this time.

I learned to slap on it. I learned two-handed tapping on it. Learned chords on it.

That bass probably isn't worth a hundred bucks to anyone else, but my hands have a familiarity with that particular bass neck that I will likely not live long enough to get with any other instrument.
 
#91
To me, a beater bass is for tight spaces and unsavory places. It's a bass you take for gigs across an international border. It's a bass that is the most expendable of the herd. That said, what constitutes my beater bass is a direct reflection of how well off I am doing, and what my gig outlook situation appears to be.

While my pair of American G&L JB-2s saw lots of action with a higher-end cover band, they have been largely retired as collector's items, since the type is no-longer made in Fullerton. If I had to reduce to just one bass, it would be the QMT-over-alder honey-colored one. My more recent acquisitions are thus viewed as being the present day gig warriors, and I would qualify my G&L Tribute LB-100 (residing with the daughter, who is learning to play) and my MIM Fender Player Series Jazz (with Fender hi-mass bridge) as being my current beaters. Both are in pristine shape, due to the dearth of gigs (thanks, China), but there is hope that this situation will not remain permanent. The USA JB with the empress body is a very close 2nd, in terms of being retained, if I needed to thin the herd, due to the light weight and classic look, but it is not for tight spaces and unsavory places.

Your needs, budget and storage capacity are all factors, and one man's meat is another man's poison.
 
#95
I have three different Epiphone Thunderbirds. For several years, I was happy with just the basic IV, but then I got great deals on a Classic pro and a Vintage Pro, and they're phenom. The basic IV is the closest I have to a beater, but I have plans to uniquify it. The Epis are excellent instruments, but if I have to replace one, that's easy enough to do. I'd love to have an early Gibson bird, but I'd be live to be in Condition Orange anytime it left the house.
 
#97
I see a “beater” as one that you don’t care if it gets banged, scratched or dinged. You have to care at some level, so you don’t deliberately smash it on a whim.
My “Beater” is a Squier Parts Jazz V
14F4A550-AF03-46E6-BDCB-B06E8E539910.jpeg


It looks kind of shiny and neat, but it’s been a test mule for different necks (Hence the truss rod acres rout at the heel - had a Warmoth neck on it at one point), pickups, and controls. This bass stays in my work truck 24/7/365 and gets played almost every day during the week. The neck is a 2016 VM Jazz V, and it too has seen different bodies since ‘16. Very solid and reliable neck.

On the other side of things, my “old faithful” I’d my ‘96 L2500. Sounds great all the time and has never let me down since ‘97 - the year I bought it.
 
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#99
pbass888 said:
View attachment 4010462
This is a HG Thorr epoxy neck.Audere pre with barts. A fretless used on a lot of gigs.The parts courtesy of TB!
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I was jist thinking to myself...I wonder if there will be any fretless go-to's? (This could be the beginning of yet another poll).
It is nice to see a player use a fretless as his main instrument! I still don't have the guts for that.
 
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